Tuesday, 15 November 2016

My #AFF16 Experience

Adelaide Fashion Festival is an annual fashion event presented by Mercedes-Benz Adelaide showcasing local South Australian design and style. This year the event was held over a period of 5 days, Wednesday the 19th of October to Sunday the 23rd of October. Throughout the festival, there were runways, markets, breakfasts, lunches and much more. The festival focusses to showcase local and up-coming designers of South Australia.

Thursday was the official day for the opening of the runways. BNKR with labels: C/MEO Collective, Finders Keepers The Label, Keepsake the Label, The Fifth Label and Jaggar Footwear. I originally only planned and purchased tickets to attend one runway show which was BNKR but my friends were all busy on that night so we had to sell our tickets. Luckily my friend from @yourbaeray on Instagram had scored tickets to Runway 3, 4 and 5 so she took me and other friends along. I had to watch everything that night from my Insta Stories and had major FOMO.

Friday night held 3 shows consisting of New Classics, Couture Culture and Ready to Wear. The New Classics consisted designs from Acler, Naomi Murrell, Elizabeth V, Good Studios, Sylvy Earl and The Daily Edited. Acler had many minimal and structured pieces which I loved as well as the sultry dreamy loungewear from Elizabeth V which was stunning.

Couture Culture was definitely my favourite runway of the night with all the classic yet edgy couture featuring many gowns from Alexis George, Jaimie Sortino, Caleche, Stephanie Chehade, Greta Kate, Couture+Love+Madness, Eliza French, Liza Emanuele and Madame Zhou. Jaimie Sortino and Greta Kate were my favourite designers off the gowns, they were elegant and beautiful. Stephanie Chehade put on quite the show with her edgy feminine silhouettes of modern design. On the runway, the models all had a short spiky hair with extravagantly designed drapy earrings from Deux Earrings. Meanwhile Madame Zhou's pieces expressed traditional designs from her heritage. The dresses had the traditional prints in a modern world which created an elegant completed look.

Runway 5: Ready to Wear showcased labels; So It Goes (SIG) The Label, Casper+Pearl, STONE The Label, Lexi Clothing, Julie White, Autark, Tiff Manuell, Simmone Standing The Label and D'nim by Chen Wen. Stone the Label kicked off the show with contemporary designs with the small details to the eye. The D'nim Collection was also an outstanding one for me as it was edgy yet wearable on the streets, the different patches of denim created a more interesting denim piece and the abstract look on the denim was a piece of Art.

My #ootd to the night was very minimal and monochromatic, matching with Ray coincidentally.

Saturday afternoon was the Street and Skate Runway showcasing Lex The Label. It started off which a skate competition followed by a mini runway of Lex's Ready to Wear pieces. I thought it would have been a sit-down runway and I think I was a bit over dressed, but people always says it's better to be overdressed than underdressed. On that particular afternoon it was quite windy and since the location was right next to Glenelg Beach, I paired my white jumpsuit with a burgundy mock neck long sleeve to keep warm and my long grey coat. I finished the look off with a pair of very high boots to it didn't look like I was drowning in my jumpsuit!

Sunday night's show was the runway to be at, Paolo Sebastian and it was the show I was looking most forward to. The runway was there to showcase Paolo Sebastian's AW16/17 Gilded Wings and his SS17 Wild Flowers Collection. His intricately hand beaded and lace designs for the Gilded Wings collection was inspired by the fragile wings of woodland fairy who falls in love with a young man lost in the woods and was launched in Paris in July. The Wild Flowers Collection aim was to evoke the feel of a soft summer breeze through a meadow. All his gowns were so stunning and beautiful and the transformation of the runway to a magical garden to give the impression of a woodland was astonishing and a great mystical experience. A full blogpost for my Paolo Sebastian outfit can be found here.

AFF was an enjoyable week showcasing all of Adelaide's talent and I was so happy to be lucky enough to go. I cant wait till next year!

Images from the runway can be found under my tabs as "AFF Gallery" or here.